People: Adele’s ‘25’ will give industry much-needed boom

Hello, it’s Adele, and she’s going to give the music industry a much-needed boost this year with “25.”

The singer’s hotly anticipated album is projected to sell over a million units in its debut week after it is released Friday, helping the ailing record business in the final quarter of the year.

“So far the fourth quarter numbers have been pretty tough,” said David Bakula, Nielsen Entertainment’s senior vice president of industry insights.

Bakula noted that Taylor Swift’s “1989,” which was released last October and sold more than 3 million albums in roughly two months last year, helped 2014 close on a strong note.

“We’re down about 20 percent year-over-year because we are going up against that Taylor Swift record with nothing at this point, but once the Adele record comes out, I don’t think there’s anybody that … doubt(s) that this thing can sell very comparably, if not a little better on a week-over-week basis than Taylor Swift did last year,” he said.

Some insiders are predicting “25” will sell 1.5 million units in its first week. And the album will easily become the top-selling release of 2015 (so far that title goes to “1989,” which has sold 1.7 million units this year, and overall has moved 5.4 million albums).

“25” is the follow-up to 2011’s “21,” which has sold 11.23 million albums in the United States. As the anticipation builds for Adele’s new album, “21” and the singer’s 2008’s debut, “19,” are currently No. 24 and 66 on Billboard’s 200 albums chart, respectively.

In just three weeks, the single “Hello” has sold 2.2 million tracks.

“Her manager played me a couple songs and it’s very exciting to hear something of that quality doing that well. And at the same time, it’s concerning that there aren’t many more things of that quality,” Apple Music executive Jimmy Iovine said in an interview. “She came in and did something pure, simple and just plain ole great, and that works. There’s a lot of great artists in the world right now, but she set the bar as far as quality and commerciality.”

Iovine added that part of Adele’s success is because her sound is unique among those heavily played on the radio.

“A lot of people conform their records to fit a radio format because they’re afraid they won’t get played. This girl came in and just said, `I’m doing something great,“’ he said.

It’s as if there isn’t a format Adele doesn’t qualify for: She appeals to those millions and millions of fans who have bought Susan Boyle and Michael Buble albums, but she also shares the same fans as Kanye West, One Direction and the Black Keys. And her songs have appeared on just about every Billboard chart, from adult contemporary to R&B to dance. She hasn’t sung in Spanish, but she’s appeared on the Latin pop charts.

Nielsen’s Bakula says “25” will get atypical music fans to stores and online to buy music, driving sales for Adele’s albums and others.

“This is bringing people out that don’t typically buy music, and when you put that in the fourth quarter, a gift giving time … I think you’re just going to multiply (album sales),” he said.

Takei criticizes Virginia mayor on refugee stand

A Virginia mayor is facing criticism from “Star Trek” star George Takei after the politician cited the mass detention of Japanese-Americans during World War II in order to deny Syrian refugees the chance to resettle in the United States.

Takei, who was one of 120,000 people of Asian descent put in internment camps in the wake of 1940s-era prejudice, took issue with Roanoke Mayor David A. Bowers’ grasp of history.

The TV and stage star pointed out that Bowers was wrong to call those interred as “foreign nationals” since two-thirds were U.S. citizens. Also, he said there was never any proven incident of espionage or sabotage from the Japanese-Americans held.

“There was no threat. We loved America. We were decent, honest, hard-working folks. Tens of thousands of lives were ruined, over nothing,” Takei wrote on his Facebook page. Takei’s personal story of the camps inspired the Broadway musical “Allegiance,” in which he also stars.

Bowers on Wednesday demanded that Syrian refugees not receive any government assistance and that it was “presently imprudent” to assist in their relocation. He then cited the internments during WWII, saying “it appears that the threat of harm to America from ISIS now is just as real and serious as that from our enemies then.”

In his post, Takei invited Bowers to come see “Allegiance” as his guest. “Perhaps you, too, will come away with more compassion and understanding,” he wrote.

Takei was 5 years old when soldiers marched onto his front porch with bayonets in May 1942 and ordered his entire family to leave their Los Angeles home. His school days began with him reciting “The Pledge of Allegiance,” but he could see the barbed wire and sentry towers through his schoolroom window.

“It is my life’s mission to never let such a thing happen again in America,” he wrote, and blasted the mayor’s “fear-based tactics” and “galling lack of compassion.”